she/her
Houston, TX
Seen February 1st, 2023
Posted February 1st, 2023
I probably said this before and I will say it again: being a mod is such a rewarding experience and you will learn a ton.
As a moderator for NU/W (or The Welcome Lounge now) back in 2011, when I first started I was just absolutely clueless on what I was doing. At first I thought when someone breaks a rule they must be infracted...and that's really what I did first. For my first week of modding I was just...cruel. XD I was verbally warned that I had to tone myself down a notch, and I did. For the rest of my first month of July, I had to follow what my mod partner was doing, as well as learn what other moderators of other sections were doing exactly, so that way I do not have to make those same mistakes again.
After a month on staff I realized that members look up to mods because they know their sections, and they know the basis of said section they mod. I only modded new members, so by experience from a former new member I knew how they felt when they came on PC for the first time, posting for the first time. I made sure every single new member that registered and made a thread were welcomed and hope they had a wonderful time here. I tried to be as open as possible, even during those extremely busy times when I'm only online just to take care of reports, answer PM's or take an IM or two. It was exhausting at first, but later on I've come to get used to it. Phone access and email notifications literally helped me a lot.
I don't think I've given a giant infraction in my 1 year/2 months on staff. I've probably given less than 10 yellow cards/warnings because of repeat offenders and probably less than 5 infractions. Most of the bans I've done were adbots. After my first week of modding, being told to tone it down, I took advice from smods and my mod partner Hiidoran, telling me to only warn/infract the person if they disregard your warnings. I've gone lenient then, and that was the best thing to do.
I can't...really tell you which thing I loved the most about modding. It's not the emblem-making, the usertitles, or the usual perks mods get. What I really love about it is the feeling of leadership, being a moderator taught me how to become a leader, to not be afraid of what's out there, to make decisions as they happen. It's the feeling that it warms your heart when you help someone out, knowing that they can always count on you when you help them. I've also closed threads too during my time, obviously...but I was very polite and helpful in my closing messages.
I did my time then, and it's a bit bittersweet for me to remember since it's been a year. But I've...moved on. xD
tl;dr, I was an okay moderator back then. :P